Twins, with tweaked lineup, knock off Royals 3-1

Twins manager Paul Molitor on Wednesday tweaked his lineup for the first time in his young managerial career, moving Torii Hunter from fourth to second and Brian Dozier from second to fourth.

But never underestimate how pitching can make an offense look good.

As Kyle Gibson weaved his way through a talented Royals lineup, that two-run home run that Oswaldo Arcia hit in the fourth inning looked better and better. And the Twins bullpen enjoyed some success. And they didn't look outclassed like they did two nights earlier against the same team.

Gibson led the Twins to a 3-1 victory against Kansas City, which was baseball's last undefeated team. The Twins also avoided starting a season 1-7 for only the second time in club history.

"It looked a lot more like the team that we thought we had coming out of spring," Molitor said. "You don't put a lot into the losses or one win, but when you get a good starting pitching performance, it just makes everyone's job a lot easier."

They have Gibson to thank for that. It was neither a masterpiece nor a dominating performance. He had company on the bases. He fell behind in counts. He only had one 1-2-3 inning — although he faced the minimum in the second inning, thanks to a double play. Gibson made pitches when he needed to.

"He threw some really nice sequences to a lot of different hitters," Molitor said.

The Twins led 1-0 in the first, as Molitor's new lineup yielded a bases-loaded sacrifice fly on which Lorenzo Cain made a splendid running catch. The lead lasted until the fourth, when Alex Gordon tied the score with an RBI single. Gibson's best work came in that inning. as the Royals pressed for more. But with two on and two out, Gibson got Salvador Perez to fly out to center on a 1-0 pitch to end the inning.

Gibson threw 109 pitches, one shy of his career high set last season. He threw 69 pitches for strikes and threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 28 batters he faced.

"Throwing inside was big for me," said Gibson, now 4-0 with a 1.39 ERA in four starts against the Royals. "That was one we talked a lot about before the game. This team, I don't know what it is, but sometimes they are pretty aggressive against me, and one way you combat that is going inside."

Arcia pulled a fastball on the outer half of the plate from Edinson Volquez into the flower bed on top of the right field wall for his first homer of the season. He thought the ball was gone on contact and had to sweat it out a little.

"It was close," Arcia said with a chuckle.

Gibson lasted until two outs in the seventh, holding the Royals to one run on nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Brian Duensing got Mike Moustakas to fly out to end the inning. Casey Fien pitched the eighth, and Glen Perkins finished for his first save of the season.

"I think in here we weren't too worried about [the start]," Gibson said. "We know the offense is going to be pretty good. And if we get a couple starts in a row strung together by the starting pitching, it's going to turn right around.''